The clash between charitable food and the human right to food

Third sector food aid resources, on the increase in many European countries, now occupy a space abandoned by public institutions in supporting economically vulnerable people in need of food. This charitable effort generates strong social and political support. As a result, however, we see a stifling of the critical debate concerning food aid, which can be seen as undermining food security and, ultimately, the right to food.

Recent years have seen a reconfiguration of the collaboration between the third sector and public institutions. Under this new relationship, public institutions contribute directly or indirectly to the provision of third sector resources. In such a context, people in need have to resort to ‘charity’, which is often stigmatising, and the right to food is thus denied. The work now entrusted to the third sector cannot effectively ensure food security; the third sector simply cannot be expected to guarantee the right to food, since this is a public responsibility.

This paper looks at the institutionalisation of food aid resources, the relationship between the third sector and a ‘welfare’ state that is increasingly abandoning areas of social protection. It examines the key elements that characterise this new relationship between food aid resources and the public sector. It concludes that the public sector is actively colluding in an arrangement where the right to food is being undermined.